Items lost during hotel stay: convincing hotel to pay out

leeds55

Hi all,

Subject pretty much describes the issue, but if you want the full gory details...

Stayed in a foreign (Japan) hotel for just over a week back in July whilst playing a sports tournament, and a couple of days (Thursday) in I had to move rooms. Some personal items (travel games) were left in the desk drawers of the room I initially occupied, and I only realised on Friday evening, i.e. approx 30 hours after moving rooms. I reported this to reception & they advised that nothing had been found. So, I took it upon myself to knock on the door of the first room & found that the new occupant was playing the same sports tournament, and happened to be someone I knew from the scene here in the UK. He advised that nothing had been in the drawers when he moved in on the Thursday. Took it up with reception again, and they continued to advise nothing had been found.

This hotel is part of the Best Western chain, so when I returned home, I emailed Best Western customer service, and they said my query had been forwarded to the hotel itself, with a month to respond. Five weeks later, no response, so I chase, and apparently the hotel had asked (through their customer support system) for me to contact them directly, but no-one had told me. So, now I have their email address, I contact them directly (cc'ing the main customer services email address), and quickly get two different responses, both from the main customer services email address. One states that the hotel manager should respond, and the other is a pro forma "hotel industry policy is that possessions are at owners risk unless in secure box".

I've talked to my travel insurance company, and the excess + 'wear and tear' depreciation (applied because I don't have receipts) means my total recompense would be about £10, when the games would cost about £90 to replace.

Having checked the template letters, I'm thinking of sending the below email directly to the hotel itself, but does anyone care to offer some advice? If not, I'll just be using the forums to let off steam a little!

Thanks in advance.

Draft letter:
=====
I am writing with regards the service received whilst staying in the Joytel Osaka and through subsequent correspondence about that stay, services that I do not feel have been rendered with reasonable care or skill due to the following reasons::

• During the stay itself, following the report of items having been left in a vacated room, staff did not advise contacting the new resident of the room, and did not even check that the room was indeed occupied by new residents, something I had to do myself.
• The initial response to my contact advised that the hotel in question would respond within one month. This did not happen, and I was left to contact the hotel myself.
• Within quick succession, I received two responses to my contact, one advising that the hotel itself would respond, and another in the form of a pro forma rebuttal of what I believe to be reasonable comments, when this rebuttal could have been send at the start of the process.

The full details of my original contact are below the further evidence to support my complaint.

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (as amended) states that a service should be carried out with reasonable care and skill, in a reasonable time and for a reasonable cost. As I believe the hotel staff in question did not demonstrate reasonable care and skill, you are therefore in breach of contract and I would like to request that you replace the items lost to me, noting that these items went missing during a period in which only hotel staff and a known compatriot of mine had access to the room in which the items were situated.

I look forward to a full response to my letter within 14 days or I shall seek legal advice in order to take the matter further.

Yours faithfully,
=====

POPPYOSCAR

They are not responsible.


It was your own fault for not checking that you had everything.

wealdroam

Why do you think "The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982" might be applicable in Japan?

Poppie68

Let it go...they are board games..

Anyway how do you know it wasnt they new occupant that stole them?

azzabazza

Poppie68 wrote: »

Let it go...they are board games..

Anyway how do you know it wasnt they new occupant that stole them?

That was what I was wondering too.

somethingcorporate

No rights here at all for your failure to take care of your possessions.

This will be a waste of your time.

paddyrg

English law doesn't apply in Japan, and frankly the claim probably wouldn't hold water here either. People abandon allsorts in hotels, quite possibly the cleaner just binned them along with all the other odds and ends they find.

Hintza

wealdroam wrote: »

Why do you think "The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982" might be applicable in Japan?

That part did make me chuckle.

I thought it was only Americans that thought their laws were global.

Total negligence on the OPs part I'm afraid, nothing to do with the hotel.

Takeaway_Addict

leeds55 wrote: »

Hi all,

Subject pretty much describes the issue, but if you want the full gory details...

Stayed in a foreign (Japan) hotel for just over a week back in July whilst playing a sports tournament, and a couple of days (Thursday) in I had to move rooms. Some personal items (travel games) were left in the desk drawers of the room I initially occupied, and I only realised on Friday evening, i.e. approx 30 hours after moving rooms. I reported this to reception & they advised that nothing had been found. So, I took it upon myself to knock on the door of the first room & found that the new occupant was playing the same sports tournament, and happened to be someone I knew from the scene here in the UK. He advised that nothing had been in the drawers when he moved in on the Thursday. Took it up with reception again, and they continued to advise nothing had been found.

This hotel is part of the Best Western chain, so when I returned home, I emailed Best Western customer service, and they said my query had been forwarded to the hotel itself, with a month to respond. Five weeks later, no response, so I chase, and apparently the hotel had asked (through their customer support system) for me to contact them directly, but no-one had told me. So, now I have their email address, I contact them directly (cc'ing the main customer services email address), and quickly get two different responses, both from the main customer services email address. One states that the hotel manager should respond, and the other is a pro forma "hotel industry policy is that possessions are at owners risk unless in secure box".

I've talked to my travel insurance company, and the excess + 'wear and tear' depreciation (applied because I don't have receipts) means my total recompense would be about £10, when the games would cost about £90 to replace.

Having checked the template letters, I'm thinking of sending the below email directly to the hotel itself, but does anyone care to offer some advice? If not, I'll just be using the forums to let off steam a little!

Thanks in advance.

Draft letter:
=====
I am writing with regards the service received whilst staying in the Joytel Osaka and through subsequent correspondence about that stay, services that I do not feel have been rendered with reasonable care or skill due to the following reasons::

• During the stay itself, following the report of items having been left in a vacated room, staff did not advise contacting the new resident of the room, and did not even check that the room was indeed occupied by new residents, something I had to do myself.
• The initial response to my contact advised that the hotel in question would respond within one month. This did not happen, and I was left to contact the hotel myself.
• Within quick succession, I received two responses to my contact, one advising that the hotel itself would respond, and another in the form of a pro forma rebuttal of what I believe to be reasonable comments, when this rebuttal could have been send at the start of the process.

The full details of my original contact are below the further evidence to support my complaint.

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (as amended) states that a service should be carried out with reasonable care and skill, in a reasonable time and for a reasonable cost. As I believe the hotel staff in question did not demonstrate reasonable care and skill, you are therefore in breach of contract and I would like to request that you replace the items lost to me, noting that these items went missing during a period in which only hotel staff and a known compatriot of mine had access to the room in which the items were situated.

I look forward to a full response to my letter within 14 days or I shall seek legal advice in order to take the matter further.

Yours faithfully,
=====

Quoted just incase the OP realises how silly this all is....

unholyangel

Agree with the above responses.

Only way the hotel would really have any liability would be if THEY were responsible for transferring your belongings from the first room to the second. If the responsibility of transferring them remained with you, then ultimately the liability also remained with you.

It may not be what you wanted to hear but you are by no means alone in making a mistake/oversight which results in being out of pocket. We've all done it

leeds55

Thanks for the empathy everyone...

I was pretty much ready to let it go, but thought I'd look at the guidance & template letters herein, and the process of modifying the template was probably more agitating when I was looking for catharsis! I appreciate there was some negligence on my part, but for almost £100 worth of personal belongings, I at least needed to bring it up with the hotel, and then rant publicly (maybe that's inappropriate use of the forum) & obviously the perspective of being derided as silly has helped.

Constructive point about referencing the Sales of Goods act though: I was torn about removing that entirely, without going to the extent of checking where the Best Western hotel chain is registered, local law etc.

And yes, you're absolutely right, there is the chance that the new room occupant nicked them, but I have known him for three years & still think it's more likely that the hotel staff either disposed of them or took them. Clearly I needed to learn that my incredulity in this front was abnormal: I would have expected the staff to find the items & report it to reception, but thanks all for helping to moderate my expectations.